The Rikkyo GLP is a leadership development program unique to Rikkyo that equips students with skills in leadership—skills which share the same value as English for activity on the global stage. This is a cumulative program that all undergraduate students can take through the university-wide liberal arts subjects, teaching practical and systematic leadership. Students of all colleges and academic years attend to engage with project issues presented by companies and organizations through work in small-sized groups. Students can gradually grow their abilities in English or Japanese, and ultimately learn to exercise leadership in global environments.

The objective of this program is to spread knowledge of the current state of earthquake disaster sites to students and share issues concerning their reconstruction, through issue-based practical learning programs in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture—a city with which Rikkyo University has enjoyed many years of exchange. Through motivated work with issues alongside students from Stanford University, students acquire problem-solving skills, presentation skills, logical thinking ability, design thinking ability, and other such practical skills, and discover the value of specialized knowledge and liberal arts subjects. We anticipate that this experience will drive the enthusiasm of students for future study. As the basic language in use will be English, students can develop their foreign language ability, ability to adapt to different cultures, communication skills, and leadership skills through cooperation with students from diverse backgrounds.

This is a new type of practical education program in which students from Rikkyo University, Meiji University, and the International University of Japan, which were selected by MEXT in 2014 for the Top Global University Project, can study together at the campuses of these three universities, respond to issues of a global scale that need to be addressed by international society, and develop the knowledge and abilities needed to solve them. Rikkyo and Meiji students can study together at the campuses of either university, and all subjects are taught in English.

These programs provide opportunities for students to learn about businesses, understand the workings of society, and acquire an idea of what it means to work through internships and living abroad. Through these experiences, students can also improve skills and abilities to perform internationally, such as the ability to adapt to different cultures, communication skills, foreign-language skills, their sense of autonomy, responsibility, and flexibility, and their ability to transmit ideas.

UN Volunteers, a UN organization that promotes volunteering to support global peace and development, works together with universities in this program to send students on volunteering work in developing countries. These students engage in activities in developing countries together with staff from the UN, government organizations, and NGOs, as well as local people, for a period of approximately five months.
Through valuable volunteer work in developing countries, and the experience of living and working alongside people raised in different environments, students can cultivate the qualities essential to global personnel who can perform internationally, such as the ability to adapt to different cultures, communication skills, foreign language skills, a sense of autonomy and assertiveness, responsibility, and flexibility, the ability to transmit ideas, and mental fortitude. Additionally, the program provides opportunities to witness the real world of international cooperation performed by the UN, NGOs, and other organizations.